The title of the opinion piece “COVID lockdown story points to media’s failings” (Here’s Something by John Balentine, Feb. 2) is an interesting choice of words for an editorial piece that professes to be factual.

The “working study” referenced purports that “lockdowns” only reduced deaths by two-tenths of 1%. This claim is demonstratively false. Please consider that as of Feb. 16 there are reported to have been 417,865,735 COVID cases worldwide, resulting in 5,866,828 deaths, with the U.S. on top with 951,555 deaths (0.289% of the population), according to worldometers.info/coronavirus/.

China as the country with the harshest lockdowns imposed on a population clearly demonstrates that lockdowns, which include such activates as social distancing, mask-wearing and hand washing, make a huge difference. China’s COVID deaths, as of Feb. 16, stand at 4,636. So, China’s lockdowns have resulted in the deaths of only 0.00003% of their population.

Here in the USA, as a result of politicizing the public health policy that has been implemented to keep us safe, we have lost close to 1 million souls and the deaths continue. Said another way, if China had followed the haphazard application of mitigation measures that some U.S. states and citizens have taken, their deaths would have possibly have amounted to over 4 million souls. If we had followed China’s public health policy, our deaths would stand at 1,076. So, perhaps the reason why this working study, referenced in The Forecaster Opinion, has not been cited by major media sources is because through a little scrutiny it can easily be identified picking out only that information that proves a favored idea. Who is failing who here, Mr. Forecaster?

Richard McCauley
Cumberland

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